File-Sharing Service Mega Is No Megaupload

Kim Dotcom’s new Mega file-sharing service surpassed 1 million members one day following its initial Saturday launch from New Zealand, and the number of subscribers has apparently skyrocketed in the following days.

In a tweet, Dotcom said the latest sign-up numbers are startling.

“If I would tell you how many signups we had since the launch you wouldn’t believe it. I can’t believe it. So, I won’t tell you,” he said. He added: “If you use #Mega, you say YES to Internet Freedom.”

The service was launched a year after the United States shuttered Dotcom’s other file-sharing service, Megaupload, and arrested him and other top lieutenants who were running the service. They were charged with criminal copyright infringement, money laundering and other crimes and are awaiting a possible extradition to the United States from New Zealand to face trial while free on bail

So it’s clearly ironic that a file-sharing kingpin under indictment for running a site that claimed 4 percent of all internet traffic is back at it again with a new and improved version.

At first blush, the Mega site, which is undergoing some post-launch hiccups, appears to be legal and is akin to a Dropbox or Google Drive on encryption steroids. While Mega’s encryption methods have come under fire, the Mega service has clearly distanced itself from its predecessor, Megaupload.

Megaupload, which had 150 million registered members, was on the recording and movie industries’ most-hated lists, often being accused of facilitating wanton infringement of their members’ copyrights. The year-old indictment claims it paid users to upload copyrighted works for others to download, and that it often failed to comply with removal notices from rights holders under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

But the Mega service, which gives users a free 50 gigs and charges $10 or $20 monthly for premium service, does not act in the way Megaupload did. All Mega appears to be is a storage service that allows the encrypted storage and transfer of files to other members.

Clearly, many of its members will use the service to store and share illicit content, whether it be child pornography or torrented movies, games and software. You can do that with any file-hosting service.

With 50 free gigabytes of storage, we can see why Mega has become insanely popular so fast. By comparison, Dropbox gives its free customers 2 gigs.